Keystone XL Pipeline

The Keystone Pipeline XL is a TransCanada project that would run 1179 miles from tar sands in Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Nebraska. The U.S. segment would run 875 miles through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Former Secretary of State John Kerry denied TransCanada a presidential permit in November 2015 due to environmental concerns about the impact of the pipeline on local resources, water supplies, and cultural heritage sites. On Jan. 24, 2017, Trump signed an executive order inviting TransCanada to submit their application again and directing the State Department to rule on the application within 60 days of submission.

Initiatives are largely being churned out without proper review and the strategy could backfire. David Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former official at the Federal Trade Commission, told Politico. “A government by edict is not a sustainable idea.”

2017.02.02

The economics of the Keystone XL pipeline are unstable and a border-adjustment system could kill Trump's beloved pipeline.bloomberg.com(See also First 100 Days)

2017.03.03

Most of the steel for the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipeline projects appears to have been manufactured in Canada by a subsidiary of the Russian steel giant Evraz, not in America as directed in Trump's February 16 executive order.ecowatch.com(See also Dakota Access Pipeline, Conflicts of Interest)

2017.03.03

White House announces that the Keystone XL pipeline is exempt from Trump's executive order requiring pipelines use American steel because the order specifies new construction and repairs.The Keystone XL does not meet those criteria because it is already under construction.thehill.com(See also First 100 Days, Jobs)

About 5,000 barrels of oil, or about 210,000 gallons, gushed out of the Keystone Pipeline on Thursday in South Dakota, blackening a grassy field in the remote northeast part of the state and sending cleanup crews and emergency workers scrambling to the site.nytimes.com(See also Environment)

“We’ve always said it’s not a question of whether a pipeline will spill, but when, and today TransCanada is making our case for us,” Kelly Martin of the Sierra Club said in a statement. “This is not the first time TransCanada’s pipeline has spilled toxic tar sands, and it won’t be the last.”

2017.11.20

TransCanada’s $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline got the go-ahead from the Nebraska Public Service Commission, despite a rupture in the existing pipeline which leaked an estimated 5,000 barrels of crude oil into South Dakota.washingtonpost.com

Analysis

Opponents to the Keystone XL pipeline believe it worsens global warming and will result in hazardous oil spills while supporters say it will create jobs and lessen U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil. While there would be a few thousand jobs created during construction these jobs would be temporary and limited to the span of the project, at most two years. Only 50 jobs would be generated long term to operate the project. Refining the Canadian bitumen from tar sands into usable fuels produces between 70 percent and 110 percent more greenhouse emissions than average transportation fuel. An average of 4.1 million gallons of petroleum and other hazardous materials spilled each year between 2004 and 2014. (Factcheck.org)